Vacation time Running..

Am off work for 10 days in the last fortnight of the year in order to deplete my vacation balance to within allowable limit. I have met runners who do little running during their vacations and come back from their holiday saying 'I need to catch up with my training as I hardly ran the last ten days'. While its a challenge to get up early and run during vacations, I usually ensure that I run at least once in 3 days. This is important not only to keep the training momentum but also to offset the increase in calorie intake that is inevitable during a vacation. In any case one key factor that motivated to take up running as a habit is so that I can eat and drink without too much care. Also, I enjoy running in new places and being an addict am unable to stay off it even while on vacation.

The first part of this vacation was spent at the ancestral home in my birthplace Tiruchi(Tiruchirapalli or Trichinapoly). I am not a very religous guy(though a believer)- but Tiruchi, with numerous well known temples around it, brings out the religous instinct in me. During the four days there, we visited several magnificent temples: Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam, Samayapuram Mariamman Temple , Thiruvanaikaval Shiva temple, Rockfort Ganesha temple, Vayalur Murugan temple and the Brihadishwara temple in Tanjavur. Despite some of these temples being very crowded I enjoyed their architecural and cultural ambience. We also visited Saraswati Mahal Library in Tanjavur - one among the few medieval libraries existing in the world. This library has palm leaf based manuscripts written by my forefathers.

At the same time I also managed two decent runs of 10.5Km and 9Km respectively starting around 630am. The roads in the Tennur area, Sivaprakasa road and Sastry road, were broad and traffic light. The weather was moderate - by Tiruchi standards it was winter with a morning low of around 20 Celsius. Surprisingly I saw very few walkers or joggers on the streets and there were hardly any stray dogs around. Did see lots of goats wandering around in the roads. I capped the week with a nice 24Km/2hrs 26 minutes run as part of the RFL run in EGL on 28th December clocking a total of 44Km for the week. Despite this, I have put on a couple of Kilos since the last marathon few weeks ago - I guess the calorie intake (specially in the form of fried stuff and desserts) has been greater than the expenditure.

Am looking forward to the last run of the year on 30th morning and then starting the New Year with a nice long (25Km+ ) run before gettting back to work.

Breaking in a new pair of Addidas Supernova Cushion

A week after last Sunday’s marathon I completed a nice comfortable 12K run today at my usual CV Raman Nagar route. That by itself is normal – I have usually been doing a 10 to 12K run a week after finishing a Full Marathon. However, today’s run is also the longest I have done with my new pair of shoes – my seventh pair of Addidas Supernova Cushion in six years(hope someone from Addidas is reading this!) . Yes I have pretty much been a ‘one shoe brand’ runner since I took to distance running in 2002. When I searched for my first pair of running shoes in early 2002 I neither knew much about running shoes nor did I know any other marathon runner in Bangalore to seek guidance from. I think at that time Addidas was probably the only brand that was selling a range of sports shoes in Bangalore. I stumbled upon the supernova cushion, it worked for me during my first runs beyond 20 Km and 30Km and of course my first full marathon. I have never considered looking at any other running shoe except once. In 2007 , influenced by comments from other runners and literature about ASICS being the ‘best’ shoe brand for distance runners I bought a pair of ASICS Gel Kayano 13 during one of trips to the US on work. Unfortunately, the shoe did not work for me. The heel started hurting during long runs. I run one Full Marathon with this pair of shoes and then disposed it off and went back to my Supernova Cushion. From this experience I learnt that no brand/make of shoe will fit all runners and it does not make sense to change the shoe brand if the existing one works for you. Its good to consult either the resources on the Internet or better still get advice from experts at the Manipal Hospital’s Department of sports and exercise medicine or Back 2 Fitness. As far as I am concerned Supernova cushion is a lifer. This article sums up my views about this shoe.

Unlike many runners I know who use multiple pairs of shoes on a rotational basis I am a ‘one shoe at a time’ runner. That is, I use one pair of shoes and only after it is worn out I move to a new pair. It is generally recommended that distance runners replace their shoes after every 500Km to 600Km of running.( Running in old or worn-out shoes is one of the most common causes of running injuries). Though my shoe did not look worn out, I have done over 700Kms in it since July 2008 including 4 marathons and an ultramarathon. Therefore, it was time to change the shoes. Trying to do a marathon every month poses a challenge in terms of breaking in a new pair of shoes. It is recommended that one runs about 100Km in a new pair of shoes before using it on a long run or a race. Since the gap between my 5th marathon on 14th December and the 6th one in Mumbai on 18th January is 5 weeks this is a good period to switch to a new pair of shoes. If all goes well I will run the next few marathons starting with Mumbai in this new pair of shoes. However, I don't think I will ditch my previous pair as yet - will probably do a few more long runs and probably the Auroville marthon in it.

Running for a Thousand Dreams!

I have been involved with Dream A Dream for over 2 years now and have seen first hand how much of a difference this organization makes in the lives of vulnerable children. Thanks to Dream A Dream nearly 1,000 orphans, street children and children in slum communities are participating in programs such as team sports, creative arts, learnIT and civic awareness – helping them to develop crucial life skills such as confidence, problem-solving, communication and leadership, skills that will empower them to achieve their dreams!

Running for a charity is common in most international marathons. In a big marathon like Flora London marathon if one is not running for a cause then one is in a minority- nearly everyone is running for someone else and their joy is in knowing that their efforts will be rewarded in measures beyond medals or personal records.

Once again this year, I have a personal goal of running marathons and raising substantial funds for Dream A Dream. My next marathon will be the Standard Chartered Mumbai marathon on 18th January 2009 - I will be running this event for the sixth year in a row with several thousands of runners many of whom will be raising money for some cause . If you would you like to make a tax-deductible pledge and help support Dream A Dream please make out a check in favour of 'Dream A Dream' or donate online so that I can do as much as possible to support this noble cause. You can dontate in INR or any other currency.

Remember, every single rupee counts and together we can make a huge impact!

Great Full Marathon run at Bellandur Today

With the new date for the Bangalore Midnight marathon rumoured to be 10th January 2008, Deepak and I decided to do our December Full marathon as part of the RFL run at Bellandur on 14th December 2008. After duly informing the RFL run organisers Arvind and Nikhil, we decided to start our run an hour earlier ie at 530AM. Even though early mornings are quite nippy the day gets quite warm if and when the sun comes out. Also, starting an hour early also meant that we would finish our marathon with the 30K+ runners by 10:15 or so(with a 4:45 finish). I parked my car at the Mformation office and hopped into Deepak's car at AMand we reached the run site by 5:20AM. Arvind, Nikhil and the other RFL volunteers had just got there to mark the route.

It was cold, dark and foggy when Deepak and I set off on the dot at 5:30. Fortunately I had the foresight to carry a pocket torch with me which came in handy as we ran through the forest area. As a result of the rains the bushes were overgrown in many areas. On top of that the grass and the bushes were quite wet with dew. We made our way through the trail area a bit slowly covering the 2Kms in a little over 15 minutes. While doing so, we spoke about how difficult it must have been for Doc Rajat, Shumit and Santosh to run in the night at the ultra. We reached the RFL water point at 3.8Km before the point was set up and continued on. Not being able to locate the turn around point we made a U turn at 5.3Km. With daylight breaking through we picked up pace a bit on the return leg. I wanted to get back to the starting point in time to start the 2nd loop with the RFL runners. It was nice to get a cheering from the 40+ runners gathered at the starting point. We had done the 1st loop of 10.6Km in about 68 minutes.

Took off for the second loop around 6:42AM. I happened to be in the front and led the runners astray due to an incorrect white arrow mark put by A2 inadvertantly (while marking in the dark). We ran through a different section of the forest and got lost a bit and eventually came out on the road at a different point. Deepak went ahead with faster runners like Hari Bharadwaj and Ravi Balasubramnya while I ran with Rahul for a large portion of this loop. It was great chatting with Rahul. And before I knew it the second loop was done. I had covered about 21.6K in 2 hours 15 minutes. I had Navdeep Singh for company in the 3rd and 4rth loop. Navdeep is a fast Half Marathon runner and long distance cycling enthusiast. Running with him helped me keep a decent pace though of course it was slower than his normal pace. I greatly enjoyed running with Navdeep who is moving out of Bangalore -so it is unlikely I would be running with him again anytime soon. Usually, I find the last 4-5 Km of a marathon (post 37Km) quite tough. Surprisingly, today I felt great towards the end and was able to pick up pace a bit and complete 42.2Km in 4 hours 29 Minutes. I felt so good that I could have continued on for another 3-4Kms.

This was probably my best run in the current series after the first one in Hyderabad in August. I even had sufficient energy in the evening to drive across town to Jayanagar to attend a colleague's wedding reception. My only regret in today's run is that I forgot to take photos after the finish. Deepak and I were FILO (First In Last Out) today. The Bangalore weather was, once again, ideal for running - partly cloudy with a light breeze. The run route at Bellandur is quite nice with a mix of trail and road except that the 100 metres or so towards the end of the trail part is terrible - the garbage and the stench seems to have increased - this spoils the fun and beauty of this route. Overall I am very satisfied with my run today and am now looking forward to my first sub 4:30 finish in Mumbai in January 2009!

Bangalore Midnight Marathon announced ..and postponed..

In the last week, within a space of 5 days, the Bangalore midnight marathon was announced and postponed. The Bangalore Midnight marathon to be held on 14th December was finally announced on 1st December. However, due to the incomprehensible and dastardly Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 26th, as a precautionary measure and based on government advice the event has been postponed, probably indefinitely. I have mixed feelings about this. Of course, what happened in Mumbai was terrible! However, one of the goals of this act is to disrupt normal life - postponement of public events such as the midnight marathon is clearly a step that helps achieve that goal. Also this means, I now do not have an event for my December marathon - unless the midnight marathon is confirmed to happen on 23rd December by end of next week. Otherwise, I will just go ahead and do a full marathon during the RFL run on 14th December. I need to do a full marathon in December definitely by the 23rd December so that I have 4 weeks before the January run in Mumbai.

Still no announcement of 13th December Midnigh marathon

This is as ridiculuous as it can get. Its barely 2 weeks from the supposed Midnight marathon on 13th December and there is absolutely no information on the details of the event and registration. This surely must be a record of sorts. I doubt this situation happens with a marathon anywhwere else in the world. Shows the nascent state of road racing in India. And yet, I am anxiously looking forward to making it my December event - though night time running will be tough and I am unlikely to have too many RFL runners for company in the Full marathon! An amateur runner needs at least 3 months to prepare for a full marathon. So there probably won't be too many participants even otherwise. In case the event does not happen then I will do a 42.2 Km run as part of the RFL run on 14th December.

Great Hash run on 23rd November

One of the great things about a Hash run is the beautiful trail running route within 20-30 Kms of Bangalore. The trail runs that RFL does including Bellandur, Kanakpura road and even ONV have their origins in HASH runs. HASH runs are usually held on Sunday afternoons starting 3:45PM or so. They also provide a great opportunity to socialise and network. Checkout the Bangalorehash website and also the hash group on RFL. I greatly enjoyed the run on 23rd November which was in a trail beyond Yelahanka. It was very beautiful and the weather was ,once again, perfect for running. Did about 8.5Kms in 66 minutes of run/walk. I got rides from two wonderful Hashers: Vikram while going and Jayanth on the way back. While the average Hash runner may not run long distance there are a quite a few Hash runners who are RFL runners and run marathons/ultra marathons regularly. And of course a few serious RFL runners, like me, have started enjoying Hash runs - though I am not able to go as regularly as I would have liked to. Perhaps in 2009.... Click here for more pictures of this run.

Taking stock of 12 in 12 @ 50..

With 4 months gone by since my decision to do a marathon a month for 12 months it is time to take stock. Last year I did 3 marathons in 3 months : Richmond marathon, 1st Bangalore Ultra and Mumbai marathon on Nov 2007, December 2007 and January 2008 respectively. I have anow gone beyond that by doing 4 marathons in 4 months as follows:

16th August 2008 Hyderabad Marathon 4 hours 6 Minutes
21st September 2008 RFL Kanakpura road run 4 hours 29 Minutes
19th October 2008 Kaveri Trail Marathon 4 hours 51 Minutes
16th November 2008 2nd Bangalore Ultra (50Km) 5 hours 51 Minutes

It looks like the Crossover organised Bangalore midnight marathon is going to happen on 13th December - I am actually looking forward to this event as there is no other event in December. Though I fail to comprehend the fact that with just about 3 weeks to go for a Full marathon no formal announcement has been made yet. So the next 3 runs are likely to be the following:

13th/14th December 2008 Bangalore Midnight Marathon
18th January 2009 Mumbai Marathon
15th February 2009 Auroville Marathon

After that, with the Running season in India practically over, it is going to get really tough to do the remaining five runs. All or most of them are likely to be RFL runs with a few RFL runners joining in. Anyway, its still some ways to get there. I will take it a month at a time and focus on doing a sub 5 hr Midnight marathon. As one is not used to running at night or even in the evening running from midnight through 5 am was quite tough last year(May 2007).

More on this year's Ultra experience

The past week since the Ultra I have been pigging out with a couple of buffet lunches at the Unwind Island and dinner at Jalsa on Outer Ring Road(all official as my Manager from the US was visiting).

Last Sunday, Vetcha Rajesh (who stayed over with me on 15th November) and I left home by city taxi at 3:30am to ride with Dharam in his car from Cubbon at 4am. On Old Madras Road half way to Cubbon Park I felt quite low on suddenly remembering that I had forgotten my Garmin 305 at home. Having got used to running with one I was despairing that I might not have such a great run without it. The ride to ONV was very fast and when we were there by 5am I regretted not having pushed Dharam to take me home to pick up my Garmin. So when Dharam offered me the use of his Garmin I took it up. Even though the unit did not have the Average pace as one of the display settings I am quite certain that, without it, I would not have managed as good a run. Dharam - thanx very much for letting me use your Garmin.

About 70+ runners started off at 6:30am after a motivational speech from Madhu - the race director and visionary behind the Bangalore Ultra. We havce certainly come a long way from the time in September 2006 when Madhu first posted the idea of organising an ultra in Bangalore. This time there were 4 aid stations which were well stocked as expected. Almost 4.5 KM of the 6.25 Km route was open. Though the trail was beautiful, had the weather god not been so kind and provided the perfect running weather , all the runners would have had a much tougher time. The last 500m or so to the turn around point was a real magnificent stretch. At the turn around point in the first loop one of the runners from the opposite direction shouted to me saying I was in the 43rd place. I was not surprised - at the pace that I run I am usually middle of the pack in the first half of a race. I completed 2 loops (25Km) in about 2 hours 45 minutes. And then of course the pace started to drop. In the first 3 loops I ran quite a bit with Gopal and Lingraju . I am very satisfied with my 5 hrs 50 minutes completion time which gave me an overall 9th place among the 50K finishers. While I felt quite strong at the finish , with an average pace of 6 minutes 55 Secs per Km and average heart rate of 153, I don't think I can ever push myself to run beyond 50K or so. The one problem I have is I cannot pick up my running rhythm if I talk a walk break of more than a couple of minutes. And I believe it is almost impossible to go beyond 50K distances without walking for fairly long stretches. Hats off to Jacob Bhoopalan and Mukesh Singh for completing 100Km and several runners who did the 75K : Sunil Chainani, Manoj Bhat, Athreya etc. And the amazing achievement of Santosh Padmanabhan of Asha Foundation who ran 156Km in 24 hours with Doc Rajat and Shumit Vatsal giving him with 127Km and 100Km respectively. Shows there's no limit to which the human body can be pushed with the right physical and mental training. Check the complete results of this year's event and the pictures. Also the pictures from Sabine and Anita. Overall, the event was well organised and I look forward to the most runner friendly race in India going from strength to strength.

Bangalore Ultra 2008..

Just a short post to say that I had a pretty decent race. I finished 50Km in 5hrs 50 minutes - pretty much the same timing as the 1st Ultra last year . I was the 1st Runner again in the Senior Men's category - thanks to some of the faster runners like Madhu running a longer distance. I felt the route was better and easier this year and the fantastic weather really helped. More later..

My brothers dropped out of the Ultra..

Lakshmi(Mahesh's wife), Rahul(my son), my brothers Chanru and Mahesh with Manohar - a CV Raman Nagar runner








I was quite looking forward to the experience of Ultra 2008 with my brothers Mahesh and Chandru who had registered to run 50K and 25K respectively. Unfortunately, due to last minute work commitments neither of them can make it to the event . Since it is an out and back route at ONV it would have been fun to see and cheer each other in the course a few times. Well hopefully some time in the near future. My brothers are among the few people who have been inspired/influenced by me to take up distance running. In fact I would say we are kind of a family of runners - 5 of us from the family ran the Sunfeast 10K in Bangalore in May 2008. The picture above was taken just before leaving home for this race .

Inspiring read before the Ultra..

Survival of the Fittest: Anatomy of Peak Physical Performance by Dr. Mike Stroud is an inspiring book to read in the week leading upto the Ultra. Dr. Stroud - polar explorer and practising hospital physician analsyses individual feats of survival and athletic prowess that illustrate the way the human body functions at its best. Events that he describes include crossing Antartica with Sir Ranulph Fiennes, running marathons in the Sahara, story of running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days in 2003 and an Eco-challenge race in 1995. The last race involved teams of 5 (together) crossing more than 300 miles of back-country in South Western United States using a variety of modes: running,hiking, mountain biking,horse-riding, canoeing and white-water rafting. The author's team included Helen Klein - a 72 year old great-grandmother who had completed over 50 marathons and 100 ultra-marathons since she took up distance running at the age of 55! Quite a fascinating book that makes you think that 50Km in under 6 hours should really be a walk in the park!

I particularly liked the chapter called 'The Happiness of the Long distance runner' which interperses the author's experience of running the London marathon with the physiological aspects of endurance training and explanation of what influences the ability to run distance at speed. One perhaps debatable statement he makes in the book is' It is your genes that make you go fast or far'.

Runs outside Bangalore

I have not been able to run much during the last ten days due to travel - first on personal work to Chennai and then on official work to Belfast in UK. However, the few runs I managed to do during this period were quite enjoyable. It was a nice change to do training runs in places other than Bangalore.

On Saturday 1st November I did a 25KM/2hours 35 minutes run in Chennai. Started out with my brother Mahesh from his home in Kilpauk Garden road around 530 AM. Ran through Nugambakkam road to Marina beach - a distance of approximately 8KM. While Mahesh returned back as he had to go to work I ran up and down along Marina Beach for about 8KMs before returning back. While running along Marina beach I was pleasantly surprised to see another runner with the Bangalore ultra 2007 T0-shirt. I caught up with Ramani and ran a couple of Kilometers with him. It was really wonderful - I look forward to seeing him again at the Ultra next Sunday. I was quite skeptical about enjoying a long run in the streets of Chennai and was surprised with the experience. While there was reasonable traffic even at 6am and more so on the return leg the roads were very broad and one could run on the side without a problem. I had to stop for traffic only to cross the road to the beach side (that intersection is a fairly busy one) and then at EGA junction on my return. I also found the roads much smoother(that is without potholes) compared to the roads in Bangalore. The heat was not bad at all till about 730am. There was shade along most parts of the route and also a gentle breeze. All in all a very satisfying run!

The week of 3rd November I was in Belfast on work for 4 days. During this period I ran in the treadmill in the hotel gym a couple of times. I don't do much running on treadmill - only when I am unable to run outside. In this case, I was staying in the city and could not find a suitable running route. Besides, it was quite damp and cold with morning temperatures of around 6 Degrees celsius. While long runs on the treadmill can be quite boring I do not mind running for an hour or so indoors. (For the record I did do my first ever 20K+ run on a treadmill in Plano Texas in February 2002). On Monday 3rd November I did a 45 minutes, 8.5K run and on Thursday 6th November I did a 61 minutes 11.7K run . I enjoyed both the runs. The gym was very spacious and there were quite a few people for company. In between I cycled 30K in about 50 minutes - not sure if the reading on the machine was correct - normally when I cycle outdoors I do about 15K an hour pace - so this seemed out of wack.

I intended to end the week with a 12K run in Bangalore on Sunday 9th November - however, I felt too tired (with slight sore throat and cold) after the travel to get up early and run. So I ended the week with just about 20K of running instead of the planned 30K+.

I feel I am a little short of training runs and have put on a couple of Kilos in the last couple of weeks with all the gorging during Diwali, the Chennai trip in which I attended a wedding and visited several relatives and also the travel to UK. (I do tend to eat a bit - specially fried stuff and sweets and gain weight easily. I first got into running so that I could eat and drink what I like without adding weight!). However, I feel reasonably confident of tackling the 50K next Sunday and completing it between 5:30 and 5:45 - barring any last minute injury or sickness.

Appeal to support Dream A Dream..

In 2007 I raised about Rs 80,000/- for Dream A Dream via the Bangalore ultra and Mumbai marathon. This time I have the ambitous goal of raising much higher amount. Having volunteered at several of the IT programs for children from NGOs like Ananya and Vishwas I have experienced first hand the tremendous imapct DaD is making on vulnurable children in Bangalore. Volunteering for DaD and interacting with the dedicated and passionate employees of the organisation has also provided me huge learning and also a sense of satisfaction of making a small contribution to make a difference.

I am a bit behind in my fund raising goals this year. I know a number of runners who are successfully raising funds for a number of different causes. So there's no dearth of donors. It seems to me that people give more readily for causes related to health care, natural disasters and disabilities. Dream a Dream is doing something that is quite niche - it seeks to empower children from vulnerable backgrounds by developing life skills and at the same time sensitising the community through active volunteering leading to a non-discriminatory society.

However with the help of a number of supporters and well-wishers I hope to raise significant funds and make up over the next few months leading up to the Mumbai marathon in January 2009. Meanwhile, if anyone who would like to support this cause has any questions or clarifications regarding the work done by DaD then do not hesitate to get in touch with me. If required I can also put you in touch with Vishal or one of the other wonderful employees of DaD. Any contribution, however big or small, will be highly appreciated!

Kaveri trail Marathon 2008

Completed the full marathon today in 4:42:19 - while it was a bit slower than what I would have liked I am still quite satisfied. The course, while mostly flat, turned out to be tougher than anticipated - the terrain was quite uneven with stretches of stones. While the weather was mostly OK with patches of sun and clouds it was very warm whenever the sun was out. At times it seemed almost s warm as Mumbai minus the humidity. I did the first half in 2:05 and felt I would be able to finish around 4:30. However, the 4rth leg turned out to be very very difficult. My hamstrings were hurting and I ended up walking in small stretches which I rarely do in my marathons. The finish was also not as strong as my usual marathons(and this was my 14th one including the Ultra!). I felt a a bit nauseous after the finish and recovered from it only after the lunch. I am not sure why this happened - the only thing I can think of that I did differently is eating salted peanuts. In any case I broke the cardinal principle of not doing anything new in a marathon - I have never eaten salted peanuts in a 25K+ run before . I also had a 'bad laces day' today - my laces coming out at least 3 times.

The race itself was reasonably well organised - the bus from Cubbon Park with the Full marathon runners not arriving on time was a setback. As a consequence, full marathon runners started in 2 batches at 6:45am and 7:45 am respectively. Not having RFID based chip timings was another setback . It worked well at the Mformation Urban Stampede and would have gone well with the runners. Finally, despite there be 4 water stops in the 10.5Km course I felt that the water stops should have had small water bottles for runners to carry along with them. The kind of day it was ,many runners ,including myself, would have preferred to sip water continuously.
Click here and here to see some wonderful pictures of this magnificant trail.

Thanx to Pankaj Rai of Red Dragon fame for driving to and fro to KTM today - he did a phenomenonal job specially on the return leg. It must have not been easy after completing a Full Marathon under tough conditions. I would also like to thank Vishal Talreja and Jaydeep for taking the time to leave comments wishing me recovery from my back strain. Now onto the ultra in 4 weeks!

Misbehaving Garmin Forerunner 305

I have owned a Garmin Forerunner 305 since July 2007 - a device with a GPS receiver and a wireless heart rate monitor that has made significant contribution to the improvement in my long distance running over the last year or so. While initially I used the device to monitor and control my heart rate during speed training (tempo or fartlek runs) subsequently I have become addicted to the pace data that it provides on a real-time basis. Now when I set out on a run I break down the target distance and completion time in terms of the average pace(Minutes per Km) required to achieve it. I then fine tune my pace by continually monitoring the current and average pace during my run. eg to finish around 4:30 in tomorrow's KTM I plan to keep my average pace around 6 and a half minutes per Km. (There are several pace calculators on the net - this one is quite cool!). I am so used to the gadget now that I often wonder how I trained and ran my first 7 marathons without one. So much so that I am not too satisfied with a run if I don't have the Garmin 305 on my wrist or if the battery dies during a run.

The main reason for this post is that since the last 2 months or so my Garmin device has started misbehaving. I have experienced a couple of issues:
a) At times it seemed to be losing time ie showing a lower time and distance than actual - this happened for the first time at the Hyderabad marathon in August - the device showed 3:59 and 41.2Km at the finish. Of course, I ignored the distance and was thrilled thinking I had done my first sub 4 hr marathon only to realise later that my Garmin had acted up!

b) The bigger problem is that increasing frequency the device powers off with a message saying low battery when powering it on in the morning even if it has been fully charged the night before. This is irritating as then I have to run without the device. This seems to be a known problem with the device. Checkout Garmin Edge 305 Lockup / Not Powering Up Problems or Power Problems with Garmin 305 . I continue to get the problem on and off even after implementing the suggested solution.

I hope the device works fine during KTM tomorrow - I intend to update the firmware on it soon thereafter.

Count down to Numero Trois : KTM 2008

With just about 12 hours to go before the start of this years Kaveri Trail Marathon this Sunday I seem to have recovered from last weekend's muscle pull. The back strain has vanished completely and the numbness in the foot that I had during the week is almost gone. I attribute this to the two sessions I had with Doc Rajat and Sarika at Back to Fitness and a week of rest - I ran a 7K and 5K, did not cycle at all and skipped my strengthening sessions at Manipal. Normally I take 2 days of rest before a marathon or a 32K+ long run. This time I made an exception and I did a slow 5K on Friday - in order to put in at least 2 days of running in the week before the Full Marathon.

Went to the pasta party at Herbs and Spice, Indiranagar on Friday evening - as always it was great to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones over decent food. Among the new people I got to chat with are MD Ramaswamy who's coming back from injury and doing a 10K tomorrow, Pallavi and Gaurav founders of the North Indian Vegetarian restaurant chain MastKalandar and Anjana Kaul of Footprint Ventures - a VC firm that has funded them. Personally, I liked the food and the ambience here more than the Bistro on Brigade road where RFL pre-race parties have been held in the past. The fact that this place is much closer to where I live did not hurt! BTW - I (and my family members) love the food at MastKalandar too.

Little disappointed to learn from A2 that there won't be chip timings in tomorrow's run due to the unavailability of the vendor of the RFId system. I am now looking forward to a decent run tomorrow. The KTM route is quite flat and based on last year's performances of runners its tempting to try nd do a 'fast' full marathon. However, I don't think its prudent to push oneself tomorrow and I will be satisfied with a finish between 4:30 and 4:45 and NO after effects.!!

Down with a lower back strain or is it a sprain?

"A strain is a muscle or tendon injury; a sprain is a ligament injury. Back strain is also referred to as pulled back muscles." I came across this at Bigbackpain while researching lower back pain on the net. And the reason for spending the Sunday evening doing this research is to assure myself that I will recover in time to run the Kaveri Trail Marathon on 19th October. While stretching yesterday morning, I pulled my lower back muscle on the left side. This muscle has been strained a few times before but this time it seems to be much more severe and coming so close to a race has made this one of the most depressing weekends in recent memory. After the 50K clocked last week, this week was anyway planned to be an easy one with maximum of 30K run. I did 20K between Wednesday and Friday and was planning to do an easy one at the Hash run off Old Madras road on Sunday afternoon. After straining the back yesterday morning I have been pretty much resting the weekend and also taking pain killers. I feel much better Sunday evening but still not fully recovered. Apprehensive about running the KTM next Sunday and fearing the worst(need to take an extended break from running and inability to continue my '12 in 12 at 50 endeavour') has made me very irritated - with the family at home bearing the brunt of the irritation. It is always challenging to maintain a balance between work, family life and long distance running and injury only adds to this- more on this in a future post...

Two consecutive days of running

Personally I very rarely run 2 consecutive days. My weekly training schedule typically consists of 3 days of running including a weekend 'long' run and 2 days of cycling. I rest two mornings in a week - I do go to Manipal hospital for strength training in the evening of weekday rest day. While training to run the 1st Bangalaore ultra in 2007 I did a couple of long runs on consecutive weekend days as this is recommended as part of ultra training. This weekend was an exception to my cardinal principle - I ran on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a great 12K run at EGL catching up with Rajesh Vetcha(another passionate running evangelist and also a key organiser of the Hyderabad marathon). I had planned to do a 20K + run on Sunday but when Rajesh called Friday afternoon saying he was in town and available for a run Saturday morning I could not let the opportunity go. I then decided to do the 20K+ run on Sunday instead. Due to the time commitment required including the to and fro travel I skipped the fortnightly RFL run at ONV and ran solo at EGL. I ended up doing 25K in just under 2 hours 30 minutes and clocking a total of 50K this week. The left calf muscle hurt a bit towards the end of the run but otherwise it was pretty good. I do not remember the last time I ran over 20K alone - it was not as difficult or boring(thanx to the 'Time tunnel' on Radio Indigo) as I had anticipated it to be.

Running in a coffee plantation

During my wonderful vacation last week at the homestay called Nature Nirvana in the midst of a coffee plantation about 35Kms north of Chikmaglur I did a couple of runs of 5K and 7.5K within the property. The runs were fantastic - greenery all round, chirping birds , hardly a sign of another human being and a daschund called Mala for company . At the same time they were tough due to steep gradients and also very uneven terrain with lots of stones. In such terrain there is high risk of either twisting your leg or tripping - the soft surface ofcourse is kinder on the legs. My average run speed was 6 minutes 45 seconds per Km and even at that speed I was pretty tired at the end of the run. However, the runs were immensely enjoyable!

What's the point of running marathons?

See Runners for Life discussion forum for an interesting discussion on this topic. Most certainly if one is interested in health and fitness it is not necessary to run marathons. Its sufficient to run/walk 45 minutes a day 4-5 times a week. So why run marathons? According to the article Why run marathons because it's there, it's hard, yet an average person can do it. My personal view is that most of us amateur marathoners do it for the satisifaction of achieving a challenging goal and the high that comes with it, that is, the benefits are more internal than external. And once we achieve the goal of completing of our first full marathon many of us set ourselves even more challenging goals. This could be in terms of running faster marathons (and qualifying for Boston) or greater number of marathons (say 3 marathons in 3 months or 12 marathons in 12 months 0r 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days ) or running extreme marathons(such as the Great Tibetan Marathon) or running beyond marathon distances : 50K, 100K or even 100 miles. None of these challenges are necessary for the health benefits but still lots of runners are doing this and the tribe is growing rapidly!!

Recovery after the September marathon

The week after a marathon, often called the recovery week, is very critical perhaps as much if not more than the week before the marathon. After the completion of a marathon several muscles get stiff and sore specially the hamstring. The time taken for recovery of these muslces varies from runner to runner. In general, it is recommended that the week after a full marathon should be a week of resting with some walking/cross-training towards the end of the week. After the Marathon and Hal Higdon's Post-marathon training guide are two sources of information on training in the period immediate after the marathon.

In my case the recovery after thr RFL Kanakpura run was very quick : I was able to do a comfortable 31 munutes 5K within 48 hours of the run ie on Tuesday. I followed this up with a 8K run on Thursday and a slow 12K run in Cubbon park on Saturday. I guess once you have run several marathons recovery is also much faster. This has definitely been my fastest every recovery. (Apart from the fact that I ran a half marathon at KTM last year within 8 days of doing my personal best full marathon finish at Suntrust Richmond marathon).

Two Done, Ten to go!

With Nagaraj in the 3rd loop (approx 25K)


As planned, I had an easy week leading upto Sunday 21st September with 8K runs on Monday and Thursday and 10K cycling on Tuesday and Wednesday. Got a bit of a scare Friday evening/Saturday morning with a niggle in the hamstring. However, by Satuday evening I felt quite OK. Finalised the logistics of getting to the starting point by 530 . The plan was to drive with Deepak picking up Doc and Ashok along the way . Manoj and Athreya planned to come on their own. The idea was to start running latest by 545am so that one was done with the run by 1030 am or so. Manoj, Deepak, Doc and myself were planning to do the full 42.2Km while Ashok and Athreya were planning to do a Long one..

On Sunday morning when Doc sent an SMS to me around 3:45am dropping out, we changed our driving plans. Deepa, along with Amit, picked me up at Big Bazaar and we met Ashok in Koramangla. Ashok was then the navigator to get us to the starting point. Dharam joined us at Family Mart and followed us in his car. We got to the starting point a little after 530am. Amazingly there were at least 10 other runners already waiting there. So around 545am we took off. A2/Nikhil had talked about a loop of 10 or 10.5 Km. However, there was some confusion in the first loop and we had to do the lake bed twice to get 10Km loop which was not that much fun. At dawn the run across the lake bed was really great. Several runners started their run today between 545 and the actual RFL run start after 630am. So the RFL run got a bit disrupted. Having run the route a couple of times before I was well aware this would be a tough course with several fairly steep gradients. However, it turned out to be much tougher than I anticipated with the side loop also having steep, long gradients.So much so that I started wandering whether I made a mistake in attempting a full marathon at this location. Even though it was partly cloudy whenever the sun came out it was quite warm. The first 2 laps went off quite well. Was at the 22K mark around 2:10(compared to 1:59 in Hyderabad a month ago). Ran the first loop with Suresh and Chandra. In the second loop it was a pleasant surprise to see Nagaraj - he was coming back from an extended leg injury. It was great catching up with him over 15 K or so. Around the 26K mark was quite zapped by a fluroscent yellow T-shirt runner - there was doc sprinting by. He woke up late and decided to run after all! which was great for me as he kept pace with me pretty much till the end. Thanx a lot Doc! - I would have found it harder without your company. Doc was also very supportive when I tripped and almost fell when turning at the end of the lake bed in the 4rth loop. Doc, ofcourse, is an amazing runner - he had done a 45K the previous day at Cubbon Park - most of it running solo. The 4rth loop specially the last 2 Kms to the starting point was a really killer. Slowed down considerably in the gradient - 7:30 minutes per Km. Ended the run around 10:15 with a small stretch on Kanakpura road as each loop was 10K. . Manoj, Deepak and I finished together. Ashok and Athreya had completed earlier. I am pretty satsified with my just under 4:30 finish - just what I had targeted for. The support from RFL volunteers was good- the 2nd water point was a real boon! Also it was nice to be cheered and encouraged by several runners who knew me and were aware that I was doing the full 42K. Thank folks- really appreciated all the support!. It was also very heartening to note that a few runners ran their first 30K yesterday despite it being a very tough course. Click here for the RFL pictures of the run.

Had a quick breakfast of masala dosas and vadas at Vaishnavi before returning back home.

Though I felt really tired towards the end of the run , later in the day it felt that the muscles were less sore and fatigued compared to the previous marathons. Was able to climb up and down staircases much more easily than before. And thankfully there were no signifcant niggles in the left calf or hamstring. I am attributing this to the strength training that I have been doing at the Manipal hospital for the last 4 months or so. Even though I often wake up quite early on the morning of a marathon (it was 3:20am yesterday) I have never ever felt like sleeping or even lying down after finishing one. Au contraire, I normally feel quite energetic and good about myself after a nice long run. Now, onto the 3rd one at the Kaveri Trail Marathon on 19th October!!

Less than a week to go for the September run..

Despite having run several marathons, the week before another marathon seems to be always a nervous week. One is apprehensive about possible illness or injury during this time. Its been easygoing weekend for me with no cycling or running either Saturday or Sunday. Will be doing a couple of 8-9K runs probably on Monday and Thursday with 10K of cycling on the days in between.

Also, this is the first time, after 2002, that I will be running 40K+ distance outside of an actual race or event. Way back in 2002 when I first took to distance running and did not know of any fellow runners in Bangalore I used to do my long training runs alone. And in training for my first full marathon I have done 16 loops of a 2.5Km loop a couple of times. I cannot imagine doing this ever again - now that I have been doing long runs in company for the last few years. I can at most run 2 hours or so(approx 20 Kms) alone - anything beyond that would be tough to do now. On 21st September since it is a regular RFL run there should be plenty of company for at least the first couple of hours. Doc Rajat and Deepak have expressed interrest in doing the full 42Km. While they will both run much faster it will still help me to know that I am not the only one doing the full marathon.

Why Maniac808?

Dharam asked me whether there was any specific reason for picking maniac808 as part of my blog's URL. Well one key reason was the fact that I am maniac #808 in the Insane Asylum of Marathon Maniacs. Also, coincidentally, August 2008 is when I turned Fifty and also ran the first of my target 12 marathons!

September Marathon Plan

There has been no response yet from the organisers of the Taj Mahal marathon scheduled for 21st September. This is inspite of my email and phone enquiry. The sign up link on the website is still not working. Given that the event is 2 weeks away this is ridiculous. While I have decided against running this event the state of (mis-)organisation of marathons in India is making me real mad!! I have pretty much decided to run my September marathon in Bangalore, most likely, as part of the RFL run on 21st. The venue for this is likely to be Kanakpura road. This part road, part trail is quite a tough one with steep gradients. I definitely will not be able to do a full marathon in less than 4 and a half hours at this venue.

Below par training week including the long run

My plan is to do one training run of 25Km or more between two marathons. If the gap between the 2 marathons is 4 weeks then I will limit the long run to 25Km or so. In case of 5 weeks gap the long run will be around 30Km. So the plan was to do about 30K on 7th September.

The week leading upto the Sunday was not been great in terms of running and cycling. After a reasonably good 20K in Cubbon Park on 30th August I did 10K of cycling on 1st September at a below average pace. I took Tuesday 2nd of September off hoping to run on 3rd(Wednesday) and 5th(Friday) and cycle on 4rth(Thursday). However, I woke up on 3rd with a slight sore throat and also it was raining quite a bit around 6am. So I ditched the idea of a run. I continued to feel tired with a bit of a cold on Thursday as well. On Friday I somehow pushed my self to do a reasonably fast 10K despite the roads being wet with overnight rains. I took rest on Saturday but continued to feel a bit tired and very apprehensive about the long run on Sunday. Was planning to join the RFL run at EGL. Though convenient to get too EGL is not a great running route compared to Bellandur and GKVK. Specially if it rains the route gets slushy and even has huge poodles.

The turnout for the Sunday RFL run was moderate - probably about 35 or so runners. The first 2 loops (turned out to be a 9.4Km loop instead of the 10Km that A2 announced) were very average for me -somehow did not get the right rhythm. Also the niggle in the left calf that I get on and off bothered me a bit. Somehow, the third loop was much better albeit a bit slower than the first two. I ran 1.2Kms beyond the RFL turnaround point in order to get to 30Km. Towards the end my hamstring also started hurting a bit. Am quite worried about this as this is still very early days as far as my mission to do '12 in 12' is concerned. While I completed 30.2Km in just under 3 Hours I did not feel great at the end of the run. Maybe for some reason I did not hit the 'Runners High' today? Need to do more research on this later.

The weather was ideal for running - mostly cloudy , temperatures in low 20s as is quite common this time of the year in bangalore. Inf act, training in Bangalore makes it challenging to run in other cities in India where the weather conditions are not as runner friendly.

Dur to this long run I missed my volunteering session for the Dream A Dream Computer 202 session for Ananya children. This got moved from Saturday(6th) afternoon to Sunday(7th) mornign at the last moment.

Catching up with an old RFL buddy

Late morning of Wednesday 3rd September(Ganesha Chaturthi) was pleasantly surprised to see a mail from Vijay about wanting to catch up during his trip to Bangalore for a couple of days. Vijay is one of the first RFL'ers(along with Rajesh) that I started to run with outside of RFL runs. He changed jobs and moved to Pune in April 2007. Vijay was coming over on 3rd evening and was up for dinner the same evening - so I quickly got in touch with Arvind, Pankaj, Dharam, Praveen, Deepak and Partha to see if we could get together for dinner with Vijay. Arvind, Dharam, Deepak and Partha were unavailable for the evening.

The 4 of us met at Little Italy in Indiranagar at 830ish. It was great catching up and chatting about old times - the various runs we had done together and the runners we knew. And all this over fairly good food. Two hours passed very quickly.

Its heartening to note that Vijay is determined to run the ultra this year and also the full marathon at Mumbai. Vijay is desperately looking for company for his long runs in Pune. Pankaj suggested that he listen to e-books on his logn run and select the books depending on the planned duration of the run. The implication being that one runs till the book is completed.

Felt bad for Praveen. I know how terrible it is to stay away from running due to injury specially for an extended period. I hope he recovers soon and starts running regularly with us.

Planning the September Marathon

After a fairly strong 10K run on 23rd August, within 7 days of the Hyderabad marathon, I confidently got down to the business of identifying a marathon in September. A while ago I had stumbled across the Kathmandu International marathon scheduled for 20th September. However, the website had not been updated since last year and my repeated emails to the organisers did not result in any response for several weeks. Then suddenly on 27th August I got a mail from the organisers confirming the event and stating that the website is in the process of being updated. I was less than 50-50 for this marathon anyway due to the costs involved.
And after speaking to Doc Rajat on 30th August during my 20Km training run in Cubbon Park I decided to drop the idea of running in Kathmandu.

While generally searching for a marathon to run in September I came across a couple of different versions of Taj Mahal Marathon. One by Albatros Travel that was scheduled for March 2008 and has been postponed to 2009 and another by Discovery Journeys India Pvt. Ltd. that's scheduled for 21st September. However, the signup link on the latter's website does not work which is not an encouraging sign. I have sent an email to the organisers asking for details including the registrations charges and am awaiting a response. As of now I am not too inclined to travel all the way to Agra and spend money to run a road race in fairly warm weather without having any idea of how the race organisation and support is going to be. Most likely, I will run a Full Marathon in GKVK on 21st September.

The wonderful Experience of Hyderabad Marathon

The Hyderabad marathon was a great experience - truly a runner friendly road race organised very well. Personally, I felt it was one of the best road race experience in India. The firenly and smooth distribution of Bibs at KBR Park on 14th evening, dinner at ISB, the dormitory at the games village and bus transportation to ferry us around was all very well organised - as Shyam commented we(the outstation runners) truly felt like elite runners. On 16th morning most of us who slept in the games village dormitory woke up around 3:30am and took the bus to the start point of the race by 4:15am. The run started on the dot at 5:15am - there were about 90 runners about of half of them were professionals or from the services. The course was quite challenging with a lot of ups and downs - specially the last 5Km or so which was mostly up. However, the early start helped and the weather was pretty good till about 9am or so. Every KM was well marked(something I have not always seen in Mumbai), the volunteers at the aid stations every 2Kms were very very helpful. The aid stations were manned till the last runner finished. The traffic control was excellent - one lane on the multi-lane roads was clearly marked on the road with signs of the marathon and reserved for runners throughout the race and the cops worked very hard to ensure that the runners were given priority over the traffic. Traffic control, as we all know, is very challenging in Indian road races and for a first time race theorganisers at Hyderabad did great! The course was also fairly good - the 3 Km inside the ISB campus was nice but 6.5 Km inside the University of Hyderabad was absolutely stunning!! The finish inside the stadium was followed by a nice brunch for all the runners. The one thing that was missed was electronic timing and a big digital timing clock at the finish in the stadium. And the cheering crowds of Mumbai. I finished in 4 hrs 6 minutes - beating my previous best in any race in India by 20 minutes!! I reached the 22Km point in just under 2 hours and at that time was quite hopeful of a sub 4 hour finish. Having got to 39Km in 3 hours 45 minutes I just could not sustain the pace to finish under 4 hours. I ran the last 7 Km in the company of a young services guy called Raghuramaiah who had never run beyond 10Km before - we egged and supported each other from about the 35Km mark till the finish in the stadium.

A big THANK YOU to Rajesh, Gopi, Uma and the rest of the organising team for doing such a wonderful job - I am definitely putting this event on my annual calendar. Also, special thanks to all the volunteers and the cops whose help and support made this such a great experience

Week leading upto the Hyderabad Marathon

The week before the Hyderabad Marathon was a very hectic one. Did my fastest ever 5K (24 minutes at the corporate relay Mformation Urban Stampede on 10th August morning. Then took a non-stop Continental Airlines flight to NewArk the same night and was at work at my Edison office at 930am on 11th August. Had hectic meetings on 11th, 12th and 13th August and took the return flight to Mumbai on 13th evening getting there on 14th night. The Hyderabad marathon being the first one of this season and coming 6 months after the previous one at Mumbai I was hoping to do a fast marathon - definitely targeting sub 4:15 and possibly sub 4. However, on the plane ride back I felt quite fatigued and all sorts of apprehensive thoughts went through my head. Until I read about the stupendous feat of Dave Heeley , a blind runner , who ran 7 marathons in 7 days in 7 continents in an issue of Runners World. This gave me confidence that the human body is capable of much more than what we normally imagine. You can read more about Dave’s achievement at the official Seven Magnificent Marathons web site. I was now eagerly looking forward to reaching Hyderabad and running a good race.

Running for a cause

Worldwide runners participating in marathons and other such races use the event to raise funds for a charity in support of a cause close to their heart. According to the race organisers, The Flora London marathon is now the largest annual fund raising event in the world with participants raising over £41.5 million for charity in 2006. In 2007, 78% of all runners raised money. I too have been raising money for Dream A Dream for the last couple of years.

Dream A Dream was started in November 1999 by a group of 11 young people. Dream A Dream today is a professionally run, registered not-for-profit trust working with over 500 children coming from vulnerable backgrounds such as children from the streets / slum communities, runaway children, orphans, and HIV+ children among others.

“Empowering children from vulnerable backgrounds by developing life skills and at the same time sensitizing the community through active volunteering, leading to a non-discriminatory society where unique differences are appreciated”, is the vision of Dream A Dream.

Dream A Dream hopes to achieve this by providing sustained life skill development programmes to children through exposure to sports, outdoor camps, creative arts, reading-based programmes, computer training programmes, cinema and theatre among others. Secondly, creating a strong community participation model through volunteer-based programmes leading to empowerment and sensitization about children’s issues among the community. Today, this has developed into a full-fledged programme including over 500 volunteers.

As a volunteer in the computer program and as a mentor for a young adult, I have interacted with a number of passionate employees and volunteers of Dream A Dream and experienced first hand the joy and satisfaction of making a difference. This year my goal is to raise as much as I can during the course of the 12 marathons. Of course I can do with any help I can get towards this.

Any one who would like to contribute to Dream A Dream can do so by either going to my pledge page in Give India or sending a check in favour of Dream A Dream to 47, Bhuvaneswari Nagar, CV Raman Nagar PO, Bangalore 560093.

List of Marathons

I have identified the following potential events to run over the next 12 months. TBD implies that as of now I am not aware of any organised event for that month. ? with the event name implies the event is not yet confirmed. I am hoping that if for a particular month I don't find an organised race or am unable to participate in one I will get company for a 42.2KM run from some of the wonderful runners that are part of Runners For Life.

1. 16th August 2008 Hyderabad Half and Full Marathon
2. 21st September 2008 TBD
3. 19th October 2008 Kaveri Trail Marathon
4. 16th November 2008 Bangalore Ultra marathon
5. December 2008 Bangalore Midnight Marathon?
6. 18th January 2009 Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon
7. February 2009 Pondicherry Marathon?
8. March 2009 Taj Mahal Marathon?
9. April 2009 TBD
10. May 2009 TBD
11. June 2009 TBD
12. July 2009 Thane Varsha Marathon?

The Trigger

While I have been running for a few years now I am attempting something special this year to commemorate the start of the 5th decade of my life. I have set myself a goal of running 12 Full marathons in 12 months - running one every month between August 2008 and July 2009. And I decided to Blog to track my experiences and thoughts during training and the races. This is not a daily run journal but a set of fairly random thoughts that I hope will eventually evolve as a rich resource for running related information based on my personal experience.

The inspiration for running 12 marathons in 12 months came in April 2008 while reading 'Spaghetti Every Friday, the story of running 50 marathons in 50 weeks' which is the story of Bob Fletcher's amazing feat in his 50th year. He finished in the top 3 in his age category in all the 50 races. Simply awesome!! Compared to that what I was planning seemed much easier. I want to complete all the 12 marathons injury free and betwen 4 and 5 hours - it is likely that all except the first one will be over 4 hours 30 minutes. The first challenge ofcourse is to identify 12 organised marathon events in India.